ISSOTL Conference 2012 - International Collaborative Writing Groups

As part of the ISSOTL 2012 Conference hosted by the Centre for Leadership in Learning at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, colleagues are invited to apply to participate to join a year long international collaborative writing group.  The deadline for applications is by 28 February 2012.

There will be nine groups, each of which will prepare and write an article during 2012-13 on a pre-selected topic about SOTL for submission for publication.  Each group will have six or seven members chaired by a facilitator familiar with the chosen topic.  Ideally each group will include one student member.  Each group may have one group member who is unable to participate face to face at the two-day pre-ISSOTL workshop.

The groups will work at a distance to prepare a 2000 word outline for discussion running up to the workshop.  They will meet in Hamilton at the main conference hotel for the two days preceding the start of the main conference (Monday and Tuesday 22-23 October 2012) during which they will spend time preparing their draft paper within their group and in discussion with participants of other groups.  There will also be some social activities as part of the workshop.  Following the workshop the groups will have two months to complete and send in their papers for submission to an international SOTL journal.  It is planned to have a session within the main conference for participants to share their experiences of the initiative with other conference delegates.

An important aim of the initiative is to build the capacity of participants to work and write in international collaborative groups.  Hence enthusiasm and interest in the topic and for the process of writing collaboratively in international groups are at least as important as prior experience with the topic.

This process has been used successfully by the International Network for Learning and Teaching Geography in Higher Education (INLT) and has led to four collections of papers published in the Journal of Geography in Higher Education.

Topics

The following topics have been selected for ISSOTL 2012 to meet a range of interests:

Selection of Participants

Applicants should complete and submit the on-line form at: http://bit.ly/ISSOTL2012WritingGroups.
 
In the event of more colleagues applying to join the writing groups than there are places, selections will be made, so that as far as possible each group contains:

a)    A wide international coverage
b)    A mixture of junior and senior faculty and at least one student
c)    A range of disciplines

Up to one member of each group will be accepted, who is only able to participate at a distance and cannot make the face to face meeting in October 2012.

To help selection each applicant is asked to provide a brief statement on how they will benefit from the experience and what they can contribute to their group.   Each applicant can select a first and second choice of topics. 

Individuals selected to participate in the writing groups will be required to register for the ISSOTL 2012 Conference.

Further details of the draft timetable and programme and the costs are available at: http://issotl12.com/collaborative-writing-groups/.

We would be most appreciative if readers could forward this invitation to colleagues and to appropriate students who may be interested in participating in a collaborative writing group. There are nine subsidised places for full time students at 20% of the regular registration rate. Please remember the deadline for applications is by 28 February 2012.


Call for Conference Abstracts

Submissions are also being accepted for the ISSOTL conference proper. We welcome proposals for papers, panels, posters and pre-conference workshops. Proposal guidelines and a link to the online submission form can be found at: http://issotl12.com/call-for-proposals/.


Questions?

For additional information, please visit: http://issotl12.com or contact Beth Marquis ([log in to unmask]). To learn more about the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning, see: http://issotl.org.